History
Moving on.
The service flourished but the presenters and members of WHBS would still have to go cap in hand each month to the respective leagues of friends for all maintenance and repairs payments. It was in 1973 that we set about preparing to become self sufficient, an independent charity that would be able to offer a radio service to any local hospital that wanted it. A constitution was prepared and submitted to the Charities Commission and it was April 1974 that The Woolwich Hospitals Broadcasting Service became a registered charity. The writers first official committee post with the organisation was in charge of fund raising. Our charity name and number still remain the same although our call sign is now Meridian Radio.
At this time a new military hospital was being built to replace the ancient Royal Herbert. The new hospital became The Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and yours truly was in attendance as we broadcast the ceremony to the hospitals; never realising that in 2001 we would be broadcasting from the foyer once again as Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the hospital as a general hospital for the community..
The RSM welcomed us into the family and we were to supply programmes throughout the hospital; on headphones at the bedside and through speakers in day rooms and public areas through modern equipment. The hospital was a whole new world and community..
Presenters and assistants regularly visited patients in the three hospitals, and patients also contributed to programmes on the phone. Unfortunately the team of some thirty members also had to maintain the system on the wards and at one time even did a refit on all the bedside units at the Brook Hospital; it would be unheard of now.
As the radio station grew and the Memorial Hospital operating theatres became defunct, WHBS were offered a theatre to convert into a modern studio. The project led by Barry Grint and Gary Brown was to take the service into a new era. All work was carried out by members, even crawling through the undercroft with cables from the old area to the new.
With this major project under way another was waiting in the wings. We had a call from The Greenwich District Hospital to say that the Greenwich Hospital Radio was now defunct and had been disbanded. Were we interested in looking to see what equipment had been left, and was it of any use to us? Of course we went to look, but saddened by the demise of the service and its erratic history, we felt the GDH patients deserved better service. Our committee offered to provide programmes if we could jointly solve the question of landline fees and the actual link up to their system, the offer was readily accepted.
We also had new friends at court, technical help and enthusiasm in the shape of Paul Jackson and Brian Smith, friendships and help that was to last through many years of twists and turns to this day.
The Brook Hospital was being wound down and some of their work split between other hospitals in the area but it was still a long way from understanding how the hospitals future would change, let alone ours.
What next?
The new studio, named The Blaby Suite after one of our founder members, and barely finished was to be taken from us. The theatres were now part of a massive computerisation plan and we would have to vacate.
Nursing our wounds we asked for a meeting with the trust to see what could be done. They were eventually quite forthcoming and had recognised an area that could be offered to us. There was some building work to be done and our future did look promising although the task of rebuilding our studios did look daunting. This short paragraph does not reflect the effort that went into the negotiations
We were now covering four sites travelling up and down Shooters Hill before and sometimes after presenting a show.
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